Sony has announced the official price and availability for its new XBR 4K Ultra HD LED TVs. The line includes the XBR-55X900A and the XBR-65X900A, which have screen sizes of 55-inches and 65-inches respectively. While some other manufacturers have offered ultra HD television sets at prices ranging all the way up to $20,000 or more, Sony is actually offering “reasonable” prices, at least comparatively.

The 55-inch TV will sell for $4,995 with the 65-inch version going for $6,999. Both TVs will be available for pre-order on April 21, but the final shipping date is unannounced. Along with pricing and launch information for the TVs Sony is also unveiled its 4K Media Player called the FMP-X1. This device will deliver movies and video shorts in 4K resolution for $699. The media player will be available later this summer.

55" XBR-55X900A

The media streamer itself will come bundled with 10 feature-length films and users will be given access to a fee-based distribution service offering a library of titles from Sony Pictures Entertainment and other production studios. The films that are included with the purchase include Bad Teacher, Battle: Los Angeles, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Karate Kid (2010), Salt, Taxi Driver, That's My Boy, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Other Guys and Total Recall (2012).

Why would it be obsolete? Unless 4K 3D, a very high frame rate, or a new connector becomes dominant I don't see why it wouldn't be just as useful in 10 or even 20 years. 4K is a resolution plateau. It allows a 60 degree viewing angle - which is huge and truthfully just too big for many people. Home use of 8K is just never ever going to happen unless people start turning their entire wall into a display.

Regular consumers don't drop thousands of dollars to replace a display in order to save a few bucks a year on power or to increase contrast a tiny bit. They do it to buy important features. For example - OLED (when it finally arrives) will provide great color and black levels, but people won't buy it for that reason alone. Most sales will be people with lots of disposable money that want a TV that is half an inch thick that they can hang on the wall. So really, the next killer TV function after 4K is going to be super slim and not anything directly related to the image. Look at how horribly 3D has done in the home setting.